


A Mountain's Secret

by d_rose



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Charlie Bradbury Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, F/M, Hurt Dean Winchester, John Winchester Tries, M/M, Matchmaker Charlie Bradbury, Minor Dorothy Baum/Charlie Bradbury, Parental Bobby Singer, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d_rose/pseuds/d_rose
Summary: The yearly family trips to the Singer cabin turned deadly when Jo and Ash disappear. Charlie attempts to keep her sibling's legacy of throwing wild parties by inviting the gang up to the cabin on the anniversary of Jo and Ash's disappearance, not knowing that the creature that took her siblings still resided in the woods and was hungry for more. Can Charlie and her friends survive the night until help arrives, or will they fall victim to the mountain?This is based off the video game Until Dawn and uses some plot points from the game.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Ellen Harvelle/Bobby Singer, Jo Harvelle/Benny Lafitte, Ruby/Sam Winchester
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	A Mountain's Secret

What started off as family ski trips to their vacation home had long since become the vacation destination for the Singer’s not-children children during their coveted winter holiday break. Jo and Ash had learned to ski on the mountain soon after they learned to ride bikes, spending every weekend practicing their pizza and french fry motions as Bobby and Ellen mingled with other couples in between runs on the black diamond slopes. When Bobby and Ellen adopted sweet, extroverted, eleven year old Charlie, Jo eagerly showed her the reigns on the slopes, where she became a natural. Soon, Jo’s childhood best friend Dean and his little brother Sam joined the family on their annual trips, but they didn’t visit quite often enough to grasp the skill of skiing. 

A couple years later, when the ski lodge’s finances and reputation tanked due to an unfortunate lawsuit, the Singer family continued to enjoy their yearly holiday at the home sans skiing. After all, the lodge had been in Bobby Singer’s family for generations; they weren’t going to abandon a free place to stay when they needed to get away from their busy lives in Sioux Falls. Their home quickly became the only one on the mountain that remained occupied, the rest of the owners were avid skiers, and moved to a more inhabited area, so the Singer family enjoyed their vacation of solitude. 

Despite there being no more skiing, the Singer family and their children’s guests found other ways to occupy themselves; ice fishing, snowshoeing, hunting, sledding and having a huge bonfire every night to roast marshmallows and tell scary stories. Bobby Singer was a fan of telling the same ghost story every time a newbie came up- he told Charlie, who looked at her pseudo-father with wide eyes as Ellen hugged her, kissing her forehead telling her the story wasn’t true. Bobby then told Dean and Sam, Sam listened with inquisitive eyes, and Dean grinned when the story ended, asking for another. He even told Dean’s quiet friend Castiel and his live-in cousins Anna and Jack when they were invited for the first time. The three listened politely and believed every word of his ghost story because of their religious upbringing. Finally, Bobby Singer told Jo’s high school sweetheart Benny after she begged him to let Benny come, and he enjoyed every second of the story, asking for another similar to Dean. It was a story that Jo, Ash, Charlie, Dean and Sam had known by heart at that point after hearing it countless times. _On the other side of the mountain lay an abandoned mine; in the late 1800’s the mine collapsed and killed all the workers who now roamed the mountain searching for someone to free their souls._ After Bobby told the story, he’d always announce it was his bed time immediately after, leaving the kids to sit out by the fire, their imaginations running wild until they too turned in for the night. 

As the number of kids grew every year, they would always ask if they could spend their nights in the guest house, but Bobby and Ellen refused, claiming it was too dangerous at night for them to go there alone. It was true that the trek to the guest house was dangerous, not being immediately next to the main building, so whoever stayed there would need to walk nearly half a mile in the dark, and in combination with frequent snow and possible wild animals, the walk was a liability. But they also knew as they grew older, the kids were likely getting up to no good, sneaking alcohol or cigarettes, and the Singers would rather they do it where they can keep an eye on the kids. The kids always grumbled about it for a few minutes, usually because they wanted to stay up late unsupervised, but they really couldn’t complain because the Singer’s main cabin was spacious enough for all the kids, and they were rarely reprimanded for being too loud in the wee morning hours. In the morning Bobby would always tell the kids they kept him up all night with their racket, but they knew he was only giving them a hard time because he would always say this as he flipped their pancakes.

This all changed one night, when the kids were up late as usual, and they decided it would be fun to prank Jo, who had been moodier and grouchier than usual. Ash was sick of his sister’s crappy attitude this particular night, as she had been bothering him for days, so he decided it was time for a bit of revenge. That evening when she left the room for a drink he began to talk to Benny about her previous relationship with Dean. Ash had only meant to embarrass Jo, but it turned out that Benny was unaware of her and Dean's past, even though it wasn't much of a past at all, and he was upset that his girlfriend hadn't been the one to tell him. When Jo returned, Benny confronted her with her relationship with Dean. When she found out that it was her brother who had exposed some secrets she didn't want uncovered, Jo stormed out of the house. Ash, being the root of the problem, chased after her. By the time he caught up to his sister it was because she was stopped off the path by a nearby river. When he ran up to her she made a shush gesture, but Ash still apologized profusely as he caught his breath and she made the same gesture again, but this time paired it with a "Get down," pulling him to a crouch. "I heard something." 

Benny, who had gone outside for a smoke, heard a scream, so he called out to his friends and took off running into the woods after the sound. Sam, being the responsible one, rushed upstairs to wake Ellen and Bobby. Charlie had gone running after Benny when she realized her sister might be in trouble, and Dean after her. Castiel caught up to Dean with a flashlight, and the Singers told the other kids to stay put while they rushed outside. Jo's screaming had stopped, and Benny was just getting himself lost when the others caught up. As the snow blustered, Bobby, an expert tracker and hunter, was no longer able to follow the two pairs of footsteps that belonged to his twins.

A once nearly abandoned mountain was now bustling with search parties- helicopters flew above, parties of locals from the nearby town donned their snowshoes, and just about every police officer, EMT and ranger from the county had come to search for the missing teens. Mary Winchester drove her station wagon up to the chairlift, coming to such a screeching halt she fishtailed and nearly hit the old wooden structure with her back bumper. The remaining kids, and Charlie were crammed into the car and driven back home while Bobby and Ellen remained with the search parties. Charlie stayed at the Winchester household for nearly a week until her parents returned, rushing to her side and enveloping her in such a tight hug she couldn’t breath, but didn’t dare tell them or let go. 

Bobby and Ellen couldn't return to their vacation destination the year after, unable to take the pain of being at their beloved home, full of memories with their two children who wouldn’t be there. Charlie was hesitant about returning, but Dean was adamant that this was what Jo and Ash would have wanted. Their friends wouldn’t have wanted their group to fall apart without them, especially now that most were returning home from their first semester in college and hadn’t seen each other in months. _“It’s tradition,”_ Dean said, and eventually Charlie caved.

**‘K bitches, u win’** She sent to their group chat and the replies came back almost instantly.

_‘Really????’_ Benny was either hesitant or excited, but Charlie can’t tell over text.

_‘OMG srsly!?’_ Anna answered.

_‘R U sure’_ Castiel was always the practical one.

_‘FUCK yes!!’_ Dean texted. _‘Sam is in. he’s bringing his gf ;)’_

**‘As long as u dont bring Lisa idc who comes’** Charlie answered.

Dean made a point not to answer that, not wanting to get into the details of his love life, or lack thereof in the group chat. Instead, Charlie texted everyone the details and they began expressing their excitement over continuing their winter holiday tradition, even without the two that started it all.

*

Dean started their journey to the cabin excited, but as he neared the mountain he began chewing on his nails nervously. Sam would have normally called his behavior gross, but he was too busy sharing his iPod with his not-girlfriend Ruby who he practically begged Dean to let him bring. Before they picked Ruby up Dean complained incessantly to Castiel in the passenger seat, who looked over at his best friend sympathetically; he didn’t like the girl anymore than Dean did. Dean didn’t understand why Sam liked her, but he figured it was something to do with the rebellion sixteen year old's were attracted to. Sam and Ruby busied themselves with whatever music teens listened to, Dean made a comment about Mickey Mouse, and Sam bitch-faced while Ruby said, "Modest Mouse, dumbass." Dean and Cas shared a look that could be summed up to _this is going to be a long weekend_ before Dean hit the cassette player and they drove off.

It took nearly an hour for Castiel to say wearily, "So, Lisa."

Dean sighed, mentally noting it took him longer to bring up Dean's ex-girlfriend than he anticipated. "Do we have to do this?"

"Well, Charlie told me you two broke up a couple days after you visited home. Did something happen while you were home?" Castiel asked, knowing that Lisa was not pleased Dean went home for the weekend right before Halloween and hadn't even visited her at her dorm in Sioux Falls.

"Nothing happened," Dean said, "which is exactly why we broke up."

"Why didn't you visit her? USioux is only-"

"I know how far it is from my house, Cas," Dean snapped, but immediately apologized when he saw the concerned expression on his best friends face. "I just," he shrugged, "didn't want to deal with it."

"She was mad you visited me and not her."

"Yeah, you know how girls are." Castiel absolutely did not know what he meant, and Dean was fully aware of his best friend’s continuous lack of girlfriends, but he didn’t want to get into it.

"You didn't have to visit me, we've been friends since elementary school, we can go a couple months without seeing each other. Remember that summer I went to Bible camp."

Dean snorted, "That was a cult." 

Castiel sighed, "I'm just saying that you didn't have to break up with her because of me."

"Jesus, Cas, it wasn't because of you. That weekend was just the tip of the iceberg. We would have broken up sooner or later."

"I'm sorry, Dean," Castiel said sympathetically, looking out the window at the trees passing by.

"I'm not."

The four continued on their journey in silence for a while more, until Dean broke the silence with, "How's things been since I left?" 

Castiel shrugged, "Things are," he paused, "different," he bit his lip, holding back on what was really going on. 

Dean raised an eyebrow at if to urge him on, but Castiel glanced in back at Sam and Ruby, and Dean understood. Even though the two were likely paying more attention to each other, he knew Sam had a knack for always overhearing the wrong part of a conversation.

When they pulled into the parking lot at the old abandoned ski lodge, they made note of the couple other cars in the snow covered lot. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me, she invited Benny?" Dean exclaimed when he saw the pickup truck that belonged to Jo's boyfriend. 

"That explains why he wasn't in the group chat," Castiel said quietly. 

"Sneaky bitch," Dean mumbled under his breath.

"You shouldn't use derogatory terms about women," Sam scolded his older brother.

"Yeah, Dean," Ruby added.

"Enough from the peanut gallery. Grab your shit or else you'll have to get there on your own," Dean said with his duffel bag over his shoulder, already halfway to the ski lift, which thankfully seemed to running smoothly. A couple years after the shut down, since the Singer family still needed the lift to work to access their home, they ended up purchasing the resort for a steal. The previous owner refused to keep the lift running after their business went into the ground, so the Singer’s and their guests had to maintain plowing a long, narrow, winding driveway that filled up with snow faster than they could keep up, and when the owner became desperate enough they placed a bid seeing as the price kept dropping each year. Bobby and Ellen described their pipe dreams of reopening down the line, Ellen would open a second Roadhouse and serve her famous BBQ burgers to skiers who worked up an appetite on the slopes. And Bobby would be the head of the rangers, his days spent on the mountain, monitoring to make sure all the ski instructors and park rangers were doing their due diligence. _“Maybe some day,”_ was one of Ellen’s favorite sayings. 

Castiel hurried to catch up with Dean, but allowed him to take the lift on his own so he had enough space for his bag, and grabbed the lift behind him. He enjoyed the moment of peace before the party began, scanning over the dark mountains. Only the tree tips were illuminated from the glowing lanterns every other post. The snow, a bright white, reflected their shadows and he felt the relief of his own companionship. He gently hummed to himself before his mind began to wander about how much Dean knew about how things had changed since he went off to college. Charlie and Dean told each other nearly everything, but Castiel told Dean everything. Except the crush he has been harboring since he was old enough to understand what a crush was. But besides that, he told Dean everything. The school year was off to a strange start without his two best friends, Dean away at a technical college learning automotive repair, and Anna in New York City studying fine arts. He was thankful Charlie, Jack and Sam were still around, and had became significantly closer with Charlie, especially over their founding of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school; something long overdue. 

When Dean reached the top he hurried to hide behind the biggest tree at the lift’s base where he waited patiently as did Castiel, who stopped and stood off to the side, sighing, knowing what was coming. Dean held his finger over his lips to shush Cas, who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Dean thought he did it because he was annoyed, but in reality Cas was getting cold, especially as they ascended further up the mountain and was trying to reserve body heat. Soon enough, Sam and Ruby hopped off the lift (that they shared of course), their cheeks either red from the cold or from making out and began walking towards the footpath that led to the Singer cabin. Dean wound up, and Sam ducked just in time that the snowball went hurtling past him, hitting a chipmunk that had been searching for food on the railing of the lodge that house the control panel for the lift. The chipmunk fell to the wooden porch with a solid sound, and Dean grimaced, knowing the chipmunk had met its demise.

“Good going, Dean,” Sam said with an attitude, continuing on the path that he knew well.

“Ah, shit,” Dean said under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck before going over where the chipmunk lay. He picked up the body of the small rodent and brought it over the base of the tree where he dug into the snow and gently placed it into the snowy grave he created. 

Castiel remained waiting, growing more and more impatient by the second as Dean wrapped up his chipmunk burial. “You’re a good man, Dean Winchester,” Cas said sarcastically, shivering.

“I know, I know,” Dean said with a smug smile, “Let’s get you to the house before you freeze to death,” Dean slung an arm around Castiel’s shoulder as they began up the path, literally following his younger brother’s footsteps. 

“Thank you,” Castiel mumbled, resisting the urge to bury his face into Dean’s leather jacket, warm from the older boy’s body heat.

“Why don’t we ever come up in the summer?” Castiel asked quietly.

Dean laughed, releasing his arm and ruffling Castiel’s hair. “What fun would this be in the summer?”

“Hell of a lot easier,” Castiel said, trudging through the ankle-deep snow.

“I dunno, Cas, what about the man-eating mosquitoes?”

“I think I’d rather take a chance with them than frostbite,” he blew into his hands before stuffing them as deep into his pockets as he could.

Castiel was incredibly thankful by the time they reached the lodge that Charlie had the fireplace going and practically ran into the house, saying his “Hello’s” on his way to the warmth. Sam and Ruby had beat them there, Ruby was warming up with a drink that she was years too young for, and Sam being released from Anna’s hug. 

“Dean!” Jack exclaimed with a smile so exuberant, Dean knew the kid must have missed him while he was away at school. Dean pulled Jack into a hug first, patting him on the back with a “Hey, kid,” that he knew Jack would detest.

“I’m so glad you came,” Jack said as Dean was pulled into a bone-crushing hug from Charlie.

“I’m starting to regret it,” Dean mumbled into his friend’s hug, then laughed when she released him.

“Spill,” Charlie said to Dean as he groaned, word gets around fast in their friend circle and now everyone knew that he and Lisa were over. He dreaded the heartfelt conversation he was sure Charlie would attempt to drag out of him.

“Can’t I put my shit away first?” Dean asked, adjusting the bag on his shoulder.

“How about a drink?” She asked, already on her way to the den where the bar Bobby built was. Dean followed her despite knowing it was a ploy to get him to talk about Lisa. He placed his duffel on the floor by the entrance and flopped down into one of the comfortable living chairs. He stretched his legs out, his arms, and cracked his neck, enjoying a moment of peace before the Charlie Storm began. She was behind the bar when he heard the cracking of a can, and then another. Charlie passed him the drink before closing the door and sitting in the chair opposite Dean. He internally thanked her for closing the door, knowing Sam and Ruby would probably be waiting behind it for all the juicy details. Dean raised the can as a salute, his friend doing the same, before they each took a sip. He barely had a moment to taste the watery Bud when she said, “Tell me everything.” 

Dean could barely groan before he was interrupted, “Don’t start that macho I don’t have feelings shit,” she said with a deep voice, impersonating her friend.

“I don’t sound like that.”

“Those are not the words I want to be hearing right now.”

Dean sighed and took a long drink. “Well things were always okay, they were never great,” Charlie nodded, this was something she was aware of. “And then we both went off to school and we,” he paused, staring at the can, barely cold enough to begin gathering condensation, “drifted apart.”

“Go on,” she urged, making a rolling motion with her hand.

“We had already been fighting when I went home for the weekend so I didn’t want to see her. She was pissed I didn’t stop by,” Dean shrugged.

“Um, correct me if I’m wrong here but according to Cas-”

“He doesn’t know what happened,” Dean snapped and Charlie looked surprised at the outburst. “I mean, he doesn’t know everything.”

“And why doesn’t he?”

Dean didn’t respond, he felt the gaze of his friend staring at him so he focused his eyes on his hands. “You know why, Charlie.”

“But why doesn’t he?”

He groaned, “I can’t just- what would I say? Oh yeah Lisa left me because she thinks I’m in love with you.”

“That’s a decent start,” Charlie shrugged before sitting forward with her elbows on her knees. “But I think you should start at _‘I’m’_ and end with _‘in love with you’_. You could also throw in a _‘and I have since I first laid eyes on you in the sixth grade’_.”

Dean ran a hand through his hair with a snort and finished his drink before he stood up and placed it atop the bar. As he fished a new one out of the fridge he said, “Yeah, that’ll go over well.”

“So it’s true?” Charlie gasped, her jaw dropped. “Wait, you really are in love with him? I was just joking because Sam-”

“Shut up!” Dean said, pointing a finger at her, his current activity frozen in time.

“Dean, you have to tell him!”

“This conversation’s over,” Dean cracked his can and then said with a nod of his head towards the door, “By the way, I can't believe you invited him.”

“Who, Cas?” Charlie asked with a confused look on her face.

“Benny,” Dean said about his ex-friend. 

"Just because you two aren't talking doesn't mean he isn't still part of the squad," Charlie said as she downed her beer and began towards the bar for another.

“He’s still part of the squad? Seriously?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s not like we just stopped being friends with him because you two had to fight over my sister.”

“He was a fucking douche and you know it.”

“Dean, don’t start this shit. We don’t need it. Especially after what happened last year.”

Dean sighed and raised his can, “To Ash and Jo. This trip’s for you guys.” 

Charlie raised her empty can, then held it down, letting the last drops drip onto the carpet. “And one for the homies,” she said without half the heart Dean knew she wanted to express.

Dean and Charlie rejoined their friends after another drink and an update on the happenings of Sioux Falls High that Dean had missed out on while he went away for school. He now knew about the girl Charlie had been lusting after- Dorothy who loved theater and dreams of working on Broadway. Dean knew about the excitement surrounding the Gay Straight Alliance that was newly formed by Charlie and Cas; co-chairs. He even knew that rumors were flying about Sam and Ruby, who had been caught engaging in PDA nearly every day since they started not-dating. By the time they had joined the party, Dean had promised Charlie he would talk to Sam about Ruby about safe sex (which made Dean shudder). 

*

Soon enough, everyone was caught up on each other’s lives- Anna was having a blast studying fine art in New York, Jack made the varsity basketball team, Benny was ecstatic to be back in his home state of Louisiana for college, Sam and Ruby were not dating and that was final, Dean was newly single, and Charlie and Cas were destroying the hetero-normative culture in their high school. At this point in time, it seemed like everyone was happy, they were living their lives and trying their best to move on from the tragedy that plagued their last year. Jack snacked on a stick of beef jerky as they began to play their favorite drinking game- it was tradition really, they did it every year. They used to wait to play it until Bobby and Ellen retired for the night out of courtesy for their hosts until once a couple years ago Ellen caught them and insisted they let her join. She planned to show these kids how she used to party back in the day, but ended up struggling to pick up the rules and was forced to drink the King cup full of whatever everyone was drinking when she unintentionally broke the ring of cards around the cup. She took a sip of it, then poured it down the drain, saying that they needed to call it for the night. Tonight, they cleared enough space in the main living room so they could all sit in a circle, not having to worry about parents catching them this time.

Everyone was armed with a drink and a backup one, knowing they likely would have to open it sooner than later. Jack, who didn’t like alcohol, had a couple sodas that Charlie brought as mixers. “Alright, bitches, let’s get drunk!” Charlie announced and pulled the first card. The game began, but only lasted a couple rounds before someone brought up Jo and Ash. Benny got up from the circle and stormed off, slamming the bathroom door behind him. Dean snorted, and called “Good riddance, nobody wanted you here anyway,” after him.

“Nobody wants me here? What about you? If it wasn't for you Jo and Ash would be here right now!" Benny shouted as he emerged from the bathroom, and Dean made a sarcastic face in response.

"It's not my fault, you’re the one who pissed her off that night!”

“Because you were sleeping with my girlfriend!” Benny pushed back.

“So what we hooked up a couple times? We were fifteen!" Dean defended himself.

“You should have told me, you were like a brother to me,” Benny said, his voice lowered, he was more hurt than he was angry.

“Maybe she should have told you.”

“Don’t you fucking dare blame Jo for this!”

“Fuck you, stop trying to turn this around on me. You pissed her off that night, not me! Fuck this,” he announced as he stood up from the circle. “I can’t be around this asshole right now.”

“Maybe you should sleep in the guest cabin tonight?” Charlie offered.

“Yeah, I think I will,” Dean said as Castiel stood up and brushed his jeans to straighten them out.

“I’ll come with you,” he offered.

Dean grabbed his bag in a hurry from where he left it in the den, but not before making sure the bottle of whiskey he had packed was there. It was. “Let’s go, Cas!” He barked as he snatched a flashlight from Charlie’s hand.

Charlie said she would turn on the outdoor lights as well to better light their trek to the small cabin that served as a guest house after handing Cas the spare key. Castiel followed Dean, giving his friends a small, sad smile before jogging through the light snow to catch up. It was starting to get dark, Castiel knew if they were by the lift they would be lucky enough to see the sun setting in the distance, but their view was obscured by the dense grove of pine. He was thankful for the lanterns every fifty or so feet to illuminate their path since Dean was too frustrated to use the flashlight. It was unlikely they'd come across one, but both boys knew it wasn't the best idea to walk through the woods as dusk fell because the mountain was home to many animals they wouldn't want to encounter face to face. Castiel shivered and adjusted his hat, trying to push away the memories of the pack of howling wolves they had heard countless times before. He logically knew if they spotted any animals, they were likely more afraid of them than he would be of the animal. And Dean carried a knife. That was a comfort itself. Dean didn't say anything by the time they reached the cabin, and Cas didn't initiate the conversation to allow his friend to cool down. 

Dean jiggled the door handle impatiently and Cas called out, "I have a key," before Dean could even think about breaking a window. Dean moved to the side and cupped his hands around his mouth, breathing on them. He had forgotten to put on gloves in his huff. Castiel unlocked the door and the two hurried inside. 

The overhead light didn't turn on when Dean flicked it a few times, Cas heard him mumble better and fuse as he clicked on the flashlight and began stalking around the interior of the cabin. Cas basically stood still, as he hadn't been in the guest cabin before and didn't know his way around in the dark. Soon enough, Dean called out "Try it now!" And thankfully the light flickered on when Castiel hit the switch.

"It works!" 

Dean returned back to the main area of the cabin as Cas started looking around, taking in the room. Dean yanked a sheet off the small couch and flopped down, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Castiel went over to the sink to see if the cabin had running water. It didn't. 

"Pipes probably frozen."

Castiel just nodded.

"Gonna have to piss in the snow," he said with an amused tone.

"I'd rather walk back to the main cabin drunk at 2 in the morning than piss in the snow."

"What, don't want the squirrels to see Little Cas?"

Castiel wrinkled his nose and said, "Don't call it that. I think I'd rather not take my genitals out while it's snowing," he shivered just thinking about it. 

"Alright, you got me there," Dean agreed with a small chuckle as he zipped open his bag and produced the bottle of whiskey he packed. "Any cups?" Dean nodded to cabinets by the sink. 

Cas didn't respond, instead he grabbed two glasses and passed one to Dean after wiping the dust off with his thermal shirt. Dean poured them each a drink and Castiel frowned slightly at his, whiskey wasn't his first choice, and whiskey neat was even further down on his list of preferences. "I don't suppose you grabbed any snacks before we left?" He asked hopefully, staring in the glass, as if preparing himself to drink it.

"Shit, no. Oh wait," Dean dug through his bag and found a bag of sunflower seeds, squished, clearly been in his bag a while. Castiel finally got the courage to drink the dark liquor, it seemed they would have to drink their dinner tonight unless they got hungry enough to brave the nighttime single digit temperatures. The drink warmed the two boys from inside, but Dean's fingers were starting to go numb since they had yet to start a fire.

Dean was thankful there was a small pile of logs next to the wood stove, and began arranging them to make a fire. "Hey, can you go look for some paper or something to get the fire going?" He asked without looking up as he patted his pockets for a lighter. 

Before Castiel went in search of a leftover newspaper he grabbed the bottle and took another swig, enjoying the warming sensation. He had already inspected the kitchen and knew there wasn't anything that would make good kindling, and instead turned down a small hallway and entered the bedroom, digging through all the drawers until he found an old Good Housekeeping magazine from the early 90s. He figured it wouldn't be missed because Ellen sure as hell wasn't the type to read this. 

By the time the fire had started, Cas also grabbed a knitted blanket off the bed to keep them warm. Dean was seated on the floor in front of the fire, his head resting on the couch cushion Castiel was curled up on the other side. The two had been passing the bottle between them until Cas put his hand out in a _'no more'_ gesture and Dean screwed the lid back on and placed the bottle on the floor beside him.

"So Charlie tells me you guys started a club."

"Not exactly a club, more of a support group I guess," he shrugged. 

"Have you been okay at school?" Dean asked, looking up to Castiel, who looked down at his nails nervously. 

"It's," he paused, "not great. But the support of a group backed by a couple teachers helps."

"Is it Walker?" 

Castiel sighed, which gave Dean enough of a clue. "That little shit is lucky I graduated or else I'd-"

"I know, Dean," Castiel said sadly, "He knows that."

"He's starting laying off since the group was formed, it's really not that bad, Dean." 

"I just can't fucking stand assholes like him. Who cares who you wanna date, it's none of his business. Everyone's a little gay, anyway!" Dean said with a scoff.

"Everyone?" Castiel asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Are you?" Castiel asked, his breath hitched in his throat during the moment of silence before Dean spoke. 

"Uh, yeah, Cas. I'm bi," he said with a small laugh as if it was common knowledge.

"You are?" Cas tilted his head slightly.

"Yeah, how did you not know that?"

"I- I don't know. You were never interested in any guys at school."

"Well, yeah, them's slim pickings in other queer guys." Castiel nodded. "Not in college though, it'll get better when you go to school."

"Will it really?" Castiel asked, slightly unconvinced.

"Yeah, dude. I've hooked up with so many guys since I got there, absolutely-" Dean stopped speaking, shutting his mouth, then groaned. "Shit, you're the last person I should be saying that to."

"Why? You've never been shy talking about your sexual escapades before."

Dean nearly shuttered at hearing Cas say _‘sexual escapades’_. "I'm just putting my foot in my mouth," he put his forehead in his palms and groaned. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Why would you hurt me?" Castiel was now sitting forward, trying to urge more out of his friend.

"Because I'm an idiot," Dean took a sip from the bottle again. “I don’t want to fuck things up. I fuck everything up, Cas.”

"Dean, I know you're allergic to feelings or whatever," Castiel said, "but we've known each other since we were kids. You can tell me."

Dean sighed, "Lisa broke up with me because you're in love with me." Castiel opened his mouth as if to rebuttal, but no words came out and he closed his mouth. "She said she was sick of pretending it wasn't true. I'm okay with it, really," Dean licked his lips. "because I know she was right- is right."

Castiel's cheeks were flushed a dark pink and he was making a point of not looking at Dean. "What do you want me to say?"

Dean stared at him "It's not what I want you to say. It's what I want to," he said with his voice lowered. He stood up and climbed onto the couch, taking Cas' hand. "Because I want you to know I feel the same."

"Dean, are you sure?" Castiel stammered, his heart picking up speed and feeling a sudden lump forming in his throat. Dean nodded yes as Castiel's face broke into a smile, the infectious smile that caused one to spread on Dean's face as well. 

"Can I kiss you now?" Dean asked nervously, squeezing Cas' hand gently. 

"I thought you'd never ask," Castiel said before pushing forward, grabbing Dean by the front of his shirt and pulling their mouths together.

Dean and Cas pulled apart, Dean’s cheeks were flushed, his lips plump from the kiss. Castiel licked his, his blue eyes making contact with Dean’s, as if to ask him if he was sure. “Cas, I-”

Suddenly, Dean was interrupted by a loud scream from outside the cabin. It was bloodcurdling, the two both jumped at the sudden noise before they processed what they had heard. After jumping out of Cas’ embrace, Dean sprinted for the flashlight on the table and clicked it on. Castiel flipped the switch for the porch light just before Dean rushed out the door to see what the commotion was. He stopped on the porch and scanned the small yard and the woods surrounding it, he swept the flashlight across the treeline, unable to make out anything in there. He called out “Hello?” for good measure. Down on the path to the main house Dean noticed one of the lights was out a bit further down the path.

“Stay here,” Dean said, putting a hand into a gesture for ‘stay’ as he focused the flashlight on the path. He heard the door closed and wasn’t surprised that a moment later, Castiel, wielding the fire poker was on his heel. 

“Do you see something?”

“No.”

“That sounded like a girl screaming,” Castiel said.

“Probably Charlie playing a prank on us,” Dean said as they continued on the path, passing the last light that was on before the one that was dark. He shone his flashlight in the bushes, seeing nothing but shrubbery and trees, then shone the light straight ahead on the path. He illuminated the snow and noted that it looked disturbed. So far, the falling snow had nearly entirely covered Dean and Castiel’s footprints, creating a perfect coat of white, but in the darkened part of the path the snow looked messy, like someone was shuffling around. “Wait, look, Cas,” Dean shone the flashlight down on the snow. Castiel tilted his head slightly, squinted and bent over slightly to get a closer look. “Dude, you need glasses,” Dean joked at this friend.

“Dean, it looks like these are footprints. Boots.”

“Hello?” Dean called out, expecting one of his friends to jump out of the bushes to scare them. When no one appeared, Dean said, “Cas, let’s get to the house,” hitting him in the arm gently to boost him in the direction of the main house. With the footprints not going any further, Dean figured whoever was out here got spooked by an animal and ran back. The two hurried along, speed walking towards the house that had now come into view.

When they reached midway through the yard the motion-sensor lights flicked on above the porch, drenching the yard in light. As Dean was pulling the door shut behind him he heard a twig snap in the woods, turning to look around to see nothing but darkness beyond the limits of the yard.

*

“Hey guys!”

“Hi!”

“Glad you came back!”

The boys were greeted after they kicked off their shoes and walked into the main living space where they could hear music playing and their friends were chatting. At a quick first glance, Dean got a scan of the room to assess who was there- everyone seemed to be accounted for. “I think you and Benny should talk,” Charlie immediately said, jumping up and grabbing Dean’s arm, the cup in her hand sloshing around a sweet-smelling drink.

“Come on, Charlie, I don’t wanna do this right now,” Dean groaned. 

“Okay, okay, sorry!” Charlie said with her hands in the air.

“You know, you guys interrupted something,” Dean said in a low voice to Charlie. 

She exclaimed, “What?” Before clamping her hand over her mouth as Dean gave her a glare and when she moved her hand off her mouth Dean could see the grin that was plastered on her face. Dean allowed himself to break into a huge smile and playfully pushed Charlie bashfully, his cheeks tinted pink.

“Oh my God, why did you come?”

“Well you guys scared us half to death. Who was that by the way, Sammy? I bet it was Sammy,” Dean laughed, looking across the room to see his brother and Ruby curled up by the fire, their arms wrapped around each other, he thought Sam probably was making a point not to look at his brother so he wouldn’t laugh. 

“Huh? Anna?” Charlie said, her face twisting slightly as if she were thinking, “Are you so drunk you mistook Anna for your brother?” She pointed an accusing finger at him.

“Oh, that was Anna? She got us good, we were really worried.”

“Why would you be worried?” Charlie’s face looked more confused than before.

“Her prank, the yelling in the woods to scare us.”

“Yelling in the wha-” Charlie exclaimed. 

Dean pouted slightly at Charlie, “You guys didn’t send her to prank us?”

“No,” she drew out the ‘o’ as she shook her head.

“Dean, have you seen Anna?” Castiel asked, coming up behind Dean and gently placing a hand on his lower back.

“Anna,” Dean began to turn around.

“Wait, where’s Anna?” Charlie shouted.

Everyone looked around and muttered to themselves, “The bathroom?” Someone asked.

“No, I just checked them.”

“Maybe she went to bed?” Someone offered.

“All the beds are made.”

“Anna!” Castiel shouted as he turned towards the door he just came in. Dean followed behind, and he heard others behind him as he chased after Cas who was shouting his cousin's name for a moment before Benny stopped everyone else from running after the two.

“Charlie, stay here, you’re too drunk,” she went to argue but closed her mouth. She nodded and he said to Sam, “You two go check down the path towards the ski lift. Jack, you and I will go into the woods with Dean and Castiel.”

Benny led Jack towards the guest house as Sam and Ruby went back in the house to go out the front door, which was closer to the path leading to the ski lift.

Dean and Castiel were in the woods searching for the redhead, calling out her name by the time Benny and Jack made it. Jack hurried to be by his cousin’s side as Benny neared Dean, announcing where he was going to look. Their light source felt insignificant in the vast darkness of the forest, but they continued trudging through the snow, hoping to reach her sooner than later.

*

Sam and Ruby fell into silence as they made their way back down the path to the ski lift. Their hands occasionally bumped each other's until Ruby grabbed Sam's hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "I hope she's okay," Sam said quietly, briefly looking at Ruby before turning his attention back to focus on the path in front of them. 

"She's probably pulling a prank like Dean said," Ruby offered for reassurance, Sam nodded but they both knew her words were empty. 

Thankfully the path to the ski lift remained well lit, so the two made it down there in no time. The building was dark and Sam had to cup his hands around his eyes to attempt to peer inside. 

"See anything?" Ruby asked, trying to peer in herself.

"No, just a desk, chair and some scattered papers," Sam said, pulling away from the window, satisfied that Anna was not in the lodge. 

"The lift isn't running either so she couldn't leave," Ruby observed, and Sam spun around, walking over to the other side of the building where Ruby was. 

"It's not running? Weren't we the last ones here? Only Charlie has the key," Sam trailed off as he stared out over the mountain, the ski lift stopped in its tracks, through the snow he couldn't see past a couple chairs but it looked like they had been stopped a while based on the few inches of snow built up. 

"Maybe she turned it off?" Ruby offered.

"When would she have done that? She hasn't left the cabin. Unless it broke down," he said, turning to find the door to the lodge. The door was unlocked so Sam let himself and Ruby in, they flipped on the single overhead light, flickering as if it would go out at any second. Sam approached the desk and on the control panel noticed the emergency power button. "Try it," Ruby said with a shrug. "It's already off, what worse could happen?" 

Sam shrugged and couldn't think of a rebuttal so he pushed his hand down on the button then hopefully turned to peer out the window. Ruby shook her head and continued looking around. "Maybe Dean can fix it," Sam said hopefully and Ruby didn't say anything, figuring that a ski lift was likely a hell of a lot different than changing the oil on his car, but not wanting to point that out when Sam was clearly becoming distressed. Instead she turned to face Sam and put a hand on his chest, leaning in for a kiss. He pecked her on the lips and tried to move away but Ruby had moved her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer, nuzzling into his neck, placing wet kisses up towards his chin.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a huff.

"We're all alone, thought we should take advantage of that," she said with a smirk, leaning in to place another kiss on his chin. 

"Ruby, Anna is missing. We have to help find her."

"She'll turn up, besides she's clearly not here," she said, meaning their current location. "They'll find her way before we even get back up there. I bet you they're all sitting around the fire having a laugh and a drink right now. This is our only opportunity to be really alone."

"Christ, Ruby, what the hell is wrong with you," Sam pushed her away and she glared. "Let's go," he ordered, exiting the cabin before she could protest. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and began the hike back to the cabin, not even bothering to see if she was behind him. He ignored the flickering lights along the path, too angry with Ruby to focus on anything else but what he was going to say to her after they found Anna.

Charlie, stuck at home while everyone was out looking for Anna, decided to brew a pot of coffee mainly to help her sober up. As she stood in the kitchen with her elbows on the counter and her head in her hands she inhaled the aroma of the fresh coffee, already feeling slightly better, although that was likely a placebo effect for now. Her stomach growled loudly, which made her realize she hadn't eaten anything but snacks since lunch that day and dug around in the fridge for the sandwich ingredients she had brought up for everyone. She moaned happily as she bit into her sandwich and dug her cell out of her pocket, noting it was well after 9 and gazed at the background of a selfie of her and her crush, Dorothy, when they went on a field trip to a local art museum. She smiled at the picture, briefly forgetting about the situation she and her friends were currently in until the front door swung open and footsteps stomped through the house. 

"Charlie?" Sam called out.

"In the kitchen!" She pocketed her phone and wiped crumbs off her mouth with her sleeve. "Anything?"

Sam shook his head sadly and sat down next to the redhead. Ruby was further behind him, shutting the door loudly behind her. "Hey did you turn the lift off?" 

Charlie's head whipped around to face Sam, "No, when the hell would I have done that?"

Sam sighed and pinched his nose, "It must have broken down. It's not running. I tried pressing-"

"Broke down? How?"

"I don't know, I was hoping you may know how to work it?"

Charlie stammered, "Of course I know how to work it. I don't know how to repair it, though." The changed tone in her voice caused Sam to raise an eyebrow, but before he could respond the sliding back door opened, revealing Dean, Castiel, Benny and Jack. 

The four hurried over to the fireplace to warm up as they had all ran off without putting the proper clothing for running in the snowy woods. "Coffee?" Charlie asked, already standing up to grab the pot, warming on the hot plate.

Soon enough everyone had a mug with a hot beverage warming up their cold hands as they sat in silence around the room. Jack stared into the blazing fire, ignoring the hot cocoa Charlie had made him, no one making an attempt to speak with him about his sister. Dean and Castiel had taken over an oversized chair, barely fitting as they squeezed together. Cas was leaned forward over his knees with his mug in his palms and Dean's free hand was gently rubbing his back. If anyone noticed the closeness between the two it remained unspoken. 

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Charlie said solemnly, "I think it's time we called Bobby." No one responded save for a few nodding heads with a look of understanding on their face. Charlie gulped as she set her mug down on the coffee table and took a few deep breaths as she made her way down the hall to the landline by the front door. They could hear her say hello a couple times, each time getting louder. Dean stood up to check on his friend, giving Castiel's shoulder a reassuring squeeze on his way up. Charlie called out again as Dean came up behind and asked what was wrong.

"The line's down!" She exclaimed, "What the fuck first the lift now this!" She threw her hands in the air as a couple footsteps walked towards her 

"What do you mean 'first the lift'?" Dean asked, his voice raising. 

"Sam said the lift broke down. What the hell is going on?" She pressed her hands into her face and exhaled loudly.

"Alright, Charlie, calm down. There's gotta be a way to get in touch with him."

"There's no cell service," someone muttered from the living room. 

"No shit!" Charlie shouted.

"There's gotta be somewhere on the mountain that gets service, it can't all be a dead zone, right?" Benny suggested.

"Yeah, Benny's right," Dean said despite not wanting to agree with his ex-friend. "We just need to find a spot with service."

"What about the ranger tower? It might be high enough to pick up a signal" Sam offered, remembering the year Bobby took the kids to the old park ranger tower in the middle of the night to see a meteor shower. 

“Or maybe there’s a radio up there!” Ruby offered hopefully.

"The ranger tower, right!" Dean said with a hopeful look, turning to Charlie. "Can you get us there?" 

"Yes, yes, I can. Uh," she ran her hands through her hair, "it's further up north, near the summit," she closed her eyes to think for a moment. "I'll know the way if I can do it, I can't think of directions right now."

"Are you in any shape to go out there?" Benny asked with hesitation.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she waved him off, having coffee and a sandwich helped sober her up a bit, but she bit her lip, "okay I'm not fine, but I know how to get there."

“I’ll go with you,” Benny walked closer to her to open the coat closet, passing her a coat and then he pulled his own on. As he grabbed extra hats and mittens from a basket on the floor of the closet Dean approached and pulled his own jacket off the hook. "This ain't a 3 person job," Benny said.

"Yeah, I think it is," Dean said, looking to Charlie who's cheeks were flushed bright pink as she hiccuped, putting her hands over her mouth. 

"Fine," Benny grumbled. “But only because she’s hammered.”

“Not hammered,” Charlie said, pointing to herself, but then hiccuped, disproving her point. She frowned as she pulled a knit hat over her head. 

“You got a weapon?” Dean asked Benny, who turned towards the living room and came back a moment later with an iron fireplace poker. 

“Do you?” Benny asked as if he was challenging Dean. Dean bent down and pulled up his pant leg to reveal the handle of a knife sticking out of his sock. 

“We’ll be back soon,” Dean said, pulling gloves over his hands. “Everyone stay here. Don’t go anywhere,” he ordered rather seriously. 

“Wait!” Cas exclaimed as he hurried towards the back of the house. He grabbed the flashlight that he and Dean had used earlier that night and when he went to hand it to Dean, Dean’s hand lingered on his, tugging him closer. Dean pulled Castiel into a hug as he told Dean to “please be safe” and the older boy nodded. 

His voice lowered and Dean said, “Love you. Take care of Sammy.”

Castiel nodded and quietly returned a “love you,” as he pulled away from the hug, he heard someone quietly _‘aw-ing'_ behind them.

“That was so sweet, it’s about damn time!” Charlie said happily with a grin on her face.

“We’re leaving now,” Dean exclaimed gruffly, zipping his jacket and preparing to venture back out into the snow.

The snow was really starting to come down just after they left the house, the flakes much larger and heavier than they had been not only an hour ago. The flashlight Dean held out in front of them shone barely 10 feet ahead of them, making their trek move much slower than they had anticipated. Charlie, latched onto Dean's arm, directed the boys further up the mountain towards the tower. "I think we're close," she said as she directed them around a corner, following the barely-maintained snowed in path. 

Dean groaned, "You said that an hour ago."

"Wasn't an hour," Charlie defended.

"She's right," Benny said and when Dean gave him that read as not now he added, "but you did already say that." 

Charlie scoffed, "Whatever, we're almost there."

"Sure," Dean huffed under his breath as he pulled his hood down a bit further over his forehead and they continued towards the abandoned ranger tower. 

Back at the house, Ruby and Sam had ventured into another room, leaving Castiel and Jack in the main living space ignoring what the other two were likely up to. The cousins were silent as Castiel began picking up the discarded mugs his friends had left behind. He busied himself with the dishes, needing any distraction he could take. Jack stared out the window, he reminded Castiel of the family dog watching out the window for any movement in the yard. The image nearly comforted Cas, but he was snapped back to reality when his soapy hands dropped a mug in the sink and it cracked. He cringed and inspected the damage, then breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was only a chip because the mug was one that looked special, with World’s Best Mom painted in child-like handwriting, realizing it had probably been gifted to Ellen from Jo or Ash when they were young. He dried it with caution and tenderly placed it back in the cabinet where the other mugs were kept. By the time he finished the dishes he decided to sit down with his cousin, who was still staring out the window. Castiel sat so he could easily see outside if he wanted to and asked, “See anything?”

Jack shook his head, “No,” before turning to face his cousin, “how far is the ranger tower?”

“No idea,” Cas said as he nibbled on a piece of loose skin on his thumb, turning his head to look out the window. Past the tree line he could only barely make out the lanterns that barely lit up the pathway.

“Do you think they’ll make it there okay?”

Cas nodded, “They’ll be fine. Cold, but fine,” he was trying to reassure himself as much as he was his younger relative. Jack seemed satisfied with that answer, but still looked nervous so Cas offered to play a game of go fish like they did when they were kids.

“We’re not kids anymore,” Jack said, crinkling his nose.

“How about we make it more interesting then?” He said, shifting to pull out whatever loose change was in his pocket.

“Fucking finally,” Dean huffed under his breath as the tower came into sight, the thing sitting in the middle of a small clearing, but taller than the surrounding treeline. 

As the three climbed the metal ladder to the top, a shriek came from beyond the trees, so loud Charlie nearly missed a step and gripped onto the ladder so tight her face was pressed against the ice cold metal. “What the fuck was that?”

“Keep moving! I don’t want to be down here when we find out!” Dean snapped, urging his friend to keep climbing as he was at the trail end of the ladder, only a couple feet off the ground. Dean didn’t need to repeat himself because Charlie suddenly scurried up the ladder with a swiftness he hadn’t ever seen from his friend before. “Benny, do you see anything?” Dean called to the young man who was near the top of the ladder. 

Benny strained his neck to look into the trees as best as he could, but saw nothing besides pine needles and tree trunks, “Negatory.”

When they reached the top, Charlie rolled onto her back and laid there. “We’re going to need to go back into the woods with that thing, aren’t we?”

Dean and Benny ignored her, knowing she knew the answer as they searched the ranger post for anything that may be useful. Benny sat down at the desk and began fiddling with an old CB radio, trying to see if it still worked. “Charlie, do you have service?” Dean asked, pulling out his phone and not seeing any bars. He attempted to send a text to Bobby and to Ellen as a test, but both messages continued reading as ‘sending’ for a minute by the time he locked the screen again. 

“Nope,” she said, popping her ‘p’ dramatically. 

“Shit,” Dean swore as he walked towards a tall cabinet. The door was jammed so he slammed his shoulder into it to no avail. 

“Probably frozen,” Benny said, turning knobs on the radio.

Dean dug into his pocket until he produced a lighter and flicked it on just below the door’s lever, hoping this would help it open. After a minute and it cooled down enough for Dean to touch the lever, it budged slightly but wouldn’t open past an inch, something inside likely jamming it shut. “Gimme the poker,” Dean said, extending his arm out to Benny, who placed the fireplace poker in Dean’s hand. Dean shoved the pointed end in the inch gap and used all his might to pry it open. Thankfully, the door opened, slamming into the wall and startling Charlie. Since she was startled, she stood up and began helping Dean search the room as Benny managed to finally get some noise in the radio; static, but it was a start. 

“Maybe there’s something outside,” Charlie suggested, pointing to a door that looked like it lead to a balcony. 

“You’re not going out there,” Benny said.

Charlie huffed, “Yeah, I am.”

“No, you’re not,” Dean stated firmly. “This thing hasn’t been used in years, who knows what shape the deck’s in.”

“Dean, d’you wanna try this? I’ll check outside,” Benny offered, defeated by his inability to pick up a signal.

Dean inspected the radio as Benny and Charlie started towards the balcony. Charlie had donned a dusty old scarf Dean found in the cabinet, which turned out to be a closet of abandoned clothes. Besides the scarf, there was a pair of dirty boots that were at least two sizes too big for any of them, a couple bulky ranger jackets and a pair of gloves with a hole in the thumb. Charlie had tossed the jackets on the floor, muttering that they were probably warm before she became interested in going outside. Dean still only heard static, so he started to inspect the back of the radio, hoping there was just something that was out of place or unplugged. Despite there still being static, he called out, “Hello? SOS! Help us!” a couple times just in case, but he was sure the message was not received. 

There wasn’t much else in the cabin except an old granola bar wrapper that chipmunks seemed to have destroyed. As he stepped out onto the balcony he heard a couple loud sneezes, followed by the loud cracking of wood and Benny call out, “Charlie, watch out!” Dean hurried around the corner of the building to see a portion of the railing had fallen below. Benny had his arms wrapped snugly around Charlie, who was breathing heavily before thanking Benny.

“Did you find anything?” Dean asked once he was sure Charlie was okay.

“Yeah, check it out,” Charlie grabbed the handle of a fire axe that was leaning against the building.

“Flare gun,” Benny said, patting his chest pocket.

“Alright, let’s light this bitch up,” Dean said, eager to see the flare gun in action.

“I dunno, I think it might be best to save it. It might be useful,” Benny said.

“Isn’t the point of a flare gun to signal for help?” 

“It is, and we might run into more trouble.”

“This is the highest point on the mountain, I think this is the best time to use it, right Charlie?”

“Oh no, keep me out of your feud,” she said, walking back into the building and picking up a jacket off the floor. She shook it to shake some of the dust off then coughed as the dust flew into the air.

“We need help, the lift’s down, Anna is missing, the phone’s dead. We can’t call for help on the freakin’ radio, how can it get any worse?”

Benny narrowed his eyes, “I grew up in the bayou, you have to rely on your instincts there to survive, and I’m tellin’ you, now is not the time.”

“Benny, are you fucking joking? Now isn’t the time for a goddamn lesson! Now give me the gun!”

“We’re at the summit of the mountain, the farthest point from civilization, if I shoot this now, it’s going to go up into the clouds where ain’t nobody gonna see it. We should set it off closer to the ski lift because there’s a main road at the base, someone driving by might see it.”

“Yeah if someone happens to drive by at the right time,” Dean pushed.

“Dean, I know you trust me as far as you can throw me, but you gotta trust me on this one. I know how to survive in the wild.”

“Dean, he’s right, if we shoot it up here the clouds will mostly cover the light. It’ll be for nothing. We should at least wait until we’re back at the house and see what everyone else says.”

“Fine,” Dean snapped, “let’s go then,” he said as he stormed back into the post and pulled the trapdoor open to begin back down to the house. He saw Charlie come closer with the fire axe and took it from her hands, dropping it down the trapdoor and seeing it land at the base of the ladder in the snow. 

“Hey!” 

“How did you think you were gonna carry it down the ladder?”

Charlie looked puzzled then followed Dean as they descended the ladder. When Dean reached the bottom he picked up the axe, knowing Charlie probably couldn’t carry it the whole way back. “Lead the way,” he said, pointing towards the path as Benny neared the bottom of the ladder, only a few yards from the bottom. At that moment they heard the screeching sound again, coming from the woods across the clearing. 

“Sh,” Dean covered his lips with his finger as he saw Charlie start to comment on the noise. Benny froze where he was on the ladder and looked to his friends for some indicator. Dean and Charlie began backing their way towards the path, keeping an eye on the clearing and Benny. After a minute or so of silence, Benny began his journey again down the ladder when his foot slipped and he cried out, falling a few feet until he managed to get a grip on the ladder again. Suddenly, a large, dark figure emerged from the woods on the other side of the clearing and bellowed the screeching noise they had just heard. Benny, still on the ladder, started to scramble back up it, but after seeing the movement, the creature lunged forward towards the tower. “Run,” Dean said to Charlie, who sprinted down the path, looking over her shoulder every so often to see if her friends were following. Dean started running back towards the ladder when the creature reached Benny. It was nearly as tall as he was high off the ground, and it’s jaws snapped loudly against the metal as he attempted to kick it away. 

“Stay back, Dean!” Benny called, seeing Dean running towards him. “Help the others!” Dean stopped in his tracks and saw a flash of red before Benny was no longer on the ladder, but in the arms of the creature. Benny was thrashing wildly, the creature began to back off, it saw Dean and opened its mouth to loud out a shriek, then ran on it’s long two legs back where it had come from. “Benny!” Dean screamed, attempting to follow the two, but once it ran off into the forest Dean was unable to see where it went. His mind shifted to Charlie and sprinted as fast as he could down the path, the weight of the fire axe slowing him down. As he re-entered the woods he skidded in the snow, calling out his friend's name. When he reached a split in the path he slowed down, Charlie was sitting on a rock, shivering, appearing to have been waiting. 

“Where’s Benny?”

“There’s no time, run!” 

The two breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the lights of the house in the distance, but they were unable to feel safe yet as they still were exposed in the woods. 

Castiel, who was still sitting by the windows jumped up at seeing movement in the trees. “Dean!” He called out without really knowing what he was seeing.

The door to the room where Sam and Ruby were swung open, “Cas, is he back?” Sam rushed into the living space as Castiel opened the sliding door just in time for Dean and Charlie to come barreling in, nearly smashing into a wall they were running so fast. Castiel decided to slam and lock the door behind them based on how fast they were running. Jack came over with a blanket and wrapped up Charlie, whose lips were a light shade of blue

“Where’s Benny?” Ruby asked.

Dean breathed heavily as he caught his breath, “Didn’t make it.”

“Dean, you didn’t,” Sam warned as Cas asked, “What do you mean?”

“He, this thing, gone!” Dean said, huffing as Castiel gently guided him to in front of the fireplace.

“Gone, what do you mean gone?” Ruby asked, Sam rubbed her back reassuringly as Dean and Charlie sat by the fire, wrapped in blankets.

Dean was able to catch his breath and said, “There was this,” he paused and took a deep breath, rubbing his hands together to generate warmth, “thing that grabbed him and took him into the woods.”

“What kind of thing?” Castiel asked, passing Dean and Charlie each a glass of water.

“Tall, skinny, head like a horse’s skull,” Charlie said emotionlessly, staring directly into the fire.

“That doesn’t-”

“It’s true. It sounds crazy but it wasn’t an animal. It was a monster.”

“And you left him?”

“Jesus, Sammy, no I didn’t leave him behind on purpose.” 

“So a monster took Benny?” Jack asked and Dean and Charlie nodded.

“Do you think it took Anna too?” Sam asked, but earned a glare from Castiel.

“Maybe, we heard her scream and her footsteps just vanished like she was pulled out of thin air.”

“If this thing took Anna and Benny, maybe it took my brother and sister,” Charlie said solemnly.

“We’ve gotta find it!” Jack exclaimed. 

“We will,” Dean said, standing up. “But first we need to know what we’re up against.”

*

"Alright, Cas and I will go check Bobby's office. Sam, you and Ruby go to the attic. Charlie and Jack you guys go to the basement. There's gotta be something around here that can help," Dean ordered before they all nodded and split up to begin searching for some sort of clue as to what they were up against, or a weapon. 

"Jackpot," Dean said with his tongue sticking out, he lifted a bottle out of the bottom drawer in Bobby's desk.

"What did you- oh," Castiel said, clearly let down that all Dean found was a bottle of scotch.

"Is that why you wanted to look here?" Charlie asked from the doorway.

"No!" Dean defended, but she looked at him, unconvinced. 

"Well while you guys have been messing around we found something." 

"Hey we're not messing around, Cas also found this journal," Castiel grabbed the old brown book off the desk where he set it while they continued to look. 

"What's that?" Charlie asked, stepping closer to investigate, Cas handing it to her.

"It looks like a log of some sort," Castiel said.

"Huh," Charlie began flipping through the old, yellowed pages. "I've never seen this before. The dates go back pretty far too. 1937, 1914, 1890."

"Maybe Bobby found it when he renovated a few years ago," Dean suggested.

"Maybe," Charlie said, flipping through it more, the pages whirring. "November 11, 1914- it's back. By God I was sure we took care of it. November 23, I saw it for the first time today! I was fetching water at the stream and it was across the bank. It stood nearly twice my height, with antlers and an odor like death. I ran back without water and I could hear it shrieking behind me."

"So that’s our monster," Dean said with affirmation. 

Charlie shrugged and continued scanning the book, "Maybe, I'm going to read this, keep looking," she said before turning on her heels and disappearing downstairs. 

As soon as she left Dean unscrewed the lid to the bottle of scotch and took a long sip, holding it out to Cas. "Don't you think we should be sober? So we can be fully alert and aware." Castiel said, eyeing Dean uneasily.

"I'm alert and aware," he snorted, planning the bottle back on the desk, accidentally knocking over a nicknack in the process.

"Dean quit messing around. My cousin is out there alone with this," he paused, unsure what it really was, "thing and I don't know about you but I actually want to find her!" 

"Of course I want to find Anna, Jesus, Cas."

"Well you're acting like this is some fun little treasure hunt-"

"It's not-"

"When this is a matter of life or death! She is out there alone, probably scared shitless!"

"Cas I'm just trying to bring some levity to the situation-"

"Levity? What the hell is wrong with you?" Castiel shouted, at this point everyone downstairs could hear the two arguing, and decided it would be better if Dean and Castiel worked it out themselves.

"Because this is all my fault."

"Don't try to spin this around and play the victim," Castiel accused.

"I convinced Charlie to come up here," Dean admitted, "If I hadn't pushed her to do this we wouldn't be in this situation," he said more quietly, his hand now on the lid of the scotch, preparing for another drink.

Castiel was quiet for a moment before he resumed going through Bobby's bookshelf, hoping to find a map of the mountain or the abandoned mines that were rumored to be on the other side of the mountain. Dean stared at the back of Cas' head, not saying anything until someone downstairs shouted their names. "We found something!"

The two hurried downstairs and found the group huddled around the kitchen table, the journal laying open in front of them. 

“Look! April 12, 1939- Today there was a great fire in the mine. They said no one made it out alive. I could smell the smoke while I sat in my chair. I thought my tobacco had gone bad, but ash was raining from the sky. Mr. Wilson said the commotion caused a cave in and trapped all the miners inside with the fire. When I heard about it I tried to help the rescuers dig out the mine entrance but we were rolling a boulder uphill. What a dreadful way to go.”

“Okay, so what?” Dean asked, gripping the scotch, Charlie snatched it out of his hands and placed it on the table.

“April 20, 1939- Mr. Wilson tells me he heard reports of a monster living in the mine,” Charlie read the entry and glared at Dean. “The two of us loaded our shotguns and went down to the mine. We finally dug enough we could get inside to look for survivors, there were none. The mine was a pit of charred corpses, but one was different than the rest. It was a horses skull, but with antlers on top. It was a creature I had seen by the river! It was burned up in the fire! Praise Our Almighty Lord, it will never terrorize us again!”

“So, it can be killed with fire?” Dean asked as Jack asked, “Are you sure that’s the monster?”

“Yes, and I think so,” Charlie stated. 

“So there are more than one?”

“Maybe? I don’t know, it doesn’t say, but I think this is our best bet.”

“Okay, now how the hell are we going to set it on fire?”

*

“This is a bad idea,” Sam said. 

“Yeah, even I think it’s a bad idea,” Ruby agreed with Sam.

“Well, you got any other ideas?” Dean was met with silence so he replied, “Thought so.”

“We don’t even know where it is, Dean!” Sam protested.

“That’s why we’re going to get it to come to us,” Dean said as he began bundling up once again, the ranger jacket pulled on over his own for extra warmth as it neared midnight and the temperatures outside steadily dropped.

“You can’t do this! It’s not safe, what, what if-”

“Sammy,” Dean said, stopping his brother by placing his hands on the younger boy’s shoulders. “I know it’s not safe, but Benny and Anna are out there somewhere with this thing. I’m not letting what happened to Jo and Ash happen to them.”

“How do you know they’re alive, Dean?” Sam asked, his voice dropping to a whisper, not wanting Jack to hear what may have become of his sister.

“I don’t, but we have to try,” Dean squeezed his brother's shoulder reassuringly. “You, Charlie and Jack need to stay here- keep trying the phones, look around the house for anything that could help. I mean really turn this place upside down, got it?” Sam nodded sadly before glancing over to Ruby, who was pulling on a hat with a serious look on her face. “We’ve got this? Don’t we, Cas?” Dean said in attempt to reassure his younger brother.

Castiel nodded slowly before building up the courage to reassure their group, “Yes, Dean, we can do this.”

Sam stepped closer to Ruby to wish her luck, pulling her into a hug that she would have never normally allowed. When Sam pulled away Ruby went on her tiptoes to place a small kiss on his cheek, making him blush furiously when they pulled apart. Ruby slid gloves over her fingers and said, “Let’s go, the longer we wait the more they’re exposed,” as she looked out the window at the blustering snow. 

“She’s right, we gotta go. Let’s run through the plan once more,” Dean said Castiel and Ruby, who agreed it couldn’t hurt.

“When we get to the tower, we climb the tower and make a commotion to draw it out of hiding. When it comes out and gets to the base of the tower we set it on fire and stay up there until the fire goes out.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea? What if the tower catches on fire?” Ruby asked.

“It won’t, it’s made of metal. Right, Charlie?”

“Right!” She quipped.

“Good, let’s go.”

Charlie wrapped the scarf she found around Ruby’s neck to add an extra layer of protection from the storm before saluting her. Dean picked up the blow torch that Charlie found out in the wood shed, and Castiel placed a bottle of lighter fluid in his largest pocket. Ruby was armed with a fireplace poker, and Cas tucked a butcher knife into his belt loop, just in case. 

“We’ll be back.”

“Cas,” Jack said quietly, making Castiel pause as he was nearing the door, “bring my sister home.” Castiel nodded solemnly before the trio walked out into the frigid wilderness.

“Are you sure you know the way?” Ruby asked as they came to a fork in the path, all footprints from the earlier excursion to the tower now coated in a thick layer of snow and invisible to the eye. The three had stopped while Dean thought about which direction they were supposed to go.

“Yeah, it’s this way,” Dean said, pointing to the right, and Ruby stomped forward, eager to get their terrible idea they called a plan finished so they could get back to the warm fireplace.

“Dean, are you really sure?” Castiel asked quietly, so as not to disturb Ruby, now a few paces ahead of them, leading the way with the flashlight.

“I think, it’s hard to tell, everything looks the same out here.”

Castiel remained silent but gently squeezed Dean’s arm, “Maybe we should turn back and get Charlie to guide again.”

“No, we’re not going back now, if we do we will never come back out.”

“Dean,” Castiel started to warn but was interrupted by Ruby shouting out, Dean and Castiel nearly bumping into her. 

“What?” Ruby pointed ahead but all they could see was an old wooden bridge that had missing planks, they had come to the edge of a cliff.

“Alright, it must have been a left back there,” Dean said, starting to turn back.

“You said you knew the way,” Ruby said as she carefully stepped away from the cliff, her arms crossed so the light from her flashlight shone off into the woods.

“I made one wrong turn, it’s fine, I can get us there,” Dean defended, “now let’s hurry I’m freezing my ass off.”

Ruby grunted a response as Dean began to lead them back the way they came before they were startled by a shrieking noise coming from the forest behind them. “It’s here,” Dean whispered. Castiel pulled out the bottle of lighter fluid and readied himself to squirt it at any moment. Dean started up the blow torch, the flame flickering a hot yellow-orange. 

“Guys, where did it go?” Ruby asked quietly as the woods fell into complete silence, the snow continued down steadily, but it’s coating on the ground and trees absorbed all noise.

“It came from that way,” Dean said, pointing to the woods that were smack in the middle of the two paths. 

Ruby tentatively took a step closer to the edge of the woods before in a dark blur the creature appeared, shrieking as it came towards her with a slight limp. “Now!” She yelled to Dean and Cas, Castiel rushed forward and squeezed the spray bottle as hard as he could, lighter fluid squirting out a few feet ahead, so he got closer until Dean came behind him with the blow torch, the flame had decreased in size as it got hotter, now just a small blue nub on the end almost like an eraser on a pencil. Castiel tossed the container, fluid splashing out as it hit the creature, but as Dean started to toss his blowtorch towards the creature to ignite it, it’s long, gangly arms grabbed Ruby by the arm and yanked her towards it. The blowtorch landed on the creatures lower half and it shrieked as the flame touched it’s dark, decomposing skin, briefly letting go it’s grip on Ruby, it stepped back away from the flame back into the trees. She skid in the snow trying to stand up, and Dean and Cas reached out to help her up as the creature let out another shriek that threatened to blow out their ear drums. When Ruby was back on her feet, the three took off running back down the path towards the house. They knew the creature was right behind them just beyond the edge of the forest as Ruby pushed forward of the two, sprinting her way back before the monster stepped out from the treeline and grabbed Ruby by her hair, her hat falling off, then the creature whipped her over its shoulder before disappearing back into the woods. Dean briefly stopped to try to help Ruby, but it was too late and the monster was already out of sight. Castiel bent down to pick up the flashlight she dropped before tugging on Dean’s sleeve, indicating that they had to go now.

The two hurried back to the house, and Charlie opened the door just in time for them to come busting in, collapsing as soon as they reached safety. “Where’s Ruby?” Sam exclaimed. Dean and Cas panted heavily as they caught their breath. A blanket was placed over them as they remained on the floor, pants now getting wet from the snow melting off their boots and legs.

“Where’s Ruby?” Sam asked again, looking frantically out the window then back to his brother.

“Sam, you should sit down,” Charlie said softly, looking over at Dean and Castiel knowingly.

“No! Where is she?” Sam shouted.

“Sammy, I’m sorry,” Dean said slowly as his breathing returned to normal. Sam stomped away, and the four heard a door slam shut down the hall. 

Charlie started to go after Sam but Dean instructed her to leave him be. Dean glanced over at Cas who had his eyes shut and was trying to breathe through his nose. He nudged his friend gently so he opened his eyes and then nodded towards the fire where they could warm up.

After they moved closer to the fire Dean spoke up, “I lead us down the wrong path, Ruby nearly fell off a cliff. She screamed and it must have heard her. We tried to set it on fire like the plan, it hurt it, but it just pissed it off. We were nearly back here when it grabbed her and took off.” Dean stared ahead into the fire, guilt all over his face lit up like the flames in front of him.

“Dean, it wasn’t your fault. It would have found us no matter which path we were on,” Castiel said in an attempt to reassure Dean that he was not the guilty party, and placed a cold hand on his sleeve. 

“Yeah, Dean it’s really not your fault. It was stupid to think you guys could really handle it on your own. We need to stay here until help arrives, or at least until the sun comes up,” Charlie said, worry written all over her face. 

“I think Charlie’s right,” Jack said, “maybe in the morning the storm will wind down.”

“Yeah, and I can take a look at the lift when there’s more light, maybe see what caused it to go down.”

As Castiel and Dean warmed up from the fire, they stripped off their jackets, hats and gloves. Soon their wet boots were kicked off and lined up in front of the fire to dry. They remained in their jeans, still wet from the snow because their bags were still at the guest cabin. At his thought of the guest cabin, Castiel said, “Maybe they were able to get to the guest cabin,” hopefully. Everyone nodded slowly, including Jack, who had a look on his face for the first time in hours that wasn’t purely worry, at least he now had something to look forward to.

*

A bright light lit up the house, catching the attention of the group, exhausted and trying to pass the time until dawn hit since none of them were willing to try to sleep. The light source grew until it was nearly at the front door of the cabin, when they realized it was headlights to a car. They wondered how briefly until they heard someone calling out their names, Charlie and Sam rushed to the front door and threw it open.

“Charlie!” Charlie heard a familiar, gruff voice calling out to her as the driver’s door slammed shut.

“Dad?” She exclaimed as her father came into view, and she ran out into the snow to meet him, but instead of hugging her he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, sprinting into the house, a man following behind who appeared to be keeping a look out behind.

Bobby set Charlie down once they were all inside and he pulled her into a hug, squeezing her so tight he lifted her off the ground. His large hands were firmly cradling the back of her head. “Charlie, baby, are you okay?” He asked when he finally pulled away. 

The figure behind him barricaded the front door as Sam exclaimed, “Dad!” rushing to his father’s side. John Winchester wrapped his arms around Sam and exhaled loudly in Sam’s hair. “Where’s your brother?”

“He’s here,” Sam said but was interrupted by Dean who appeared in the doorway from the kitchen and greeted his dad.

“Are you kids okay?” Bobby asked, grabbing the next kid that was closest to him, pulling them into a hug. When he pulled away and saw Jack’s face, his cheeks rosy red from the cold but untouched. “What the hell are you doing?” He angrily asked the group, mostly aimed at his daughter.

“Dad, I can explain everything but we need your help,” Charlie said.

“Anna’s gone!”

“And Ruby, and Benny!”

“Jesus Christ,” John muttered. 

“Do you know where they are?”

“We think a monster took them to the mine but we don’t know for sure,” Charlie stated.

“The mine,” Bobby nodded, understanding, not even questioning the monster part. “John, you ready?”

“Ready,” he confirmed.

“I’m ready,” Dean said.

“Like hell you are. You’re staying here where it’s safe.”

“Bobby, we could use some extra hands.”

“No. No way. You kids stay here and let us handle it.”

“Dad, come on!”

John sighed, “No, Bobby’s right. It’s safer if you all stay here.”

“Will someone please explain what the hell is going on here?” Charlie demanded before the two took off as soon as they arrived.

Bobby sighed before instructing everyone to go have a seat. “Now, my family’s been livin’ on this mountain for generations. There’s something,” he paused, “evil that lives here. We don’t know much other than it eats people.”

“The journal said-”

“The journal has been our way of tracking it, keepin’ things under control up here. Things were alright- the Wendigo was still around but not as much up until that damn ski resort opened up. Tourists were getting lost in the woods left and right. Kept us damn busy tracking them down and finding ‘em before it did.”

“The Wend-eye-what?” Sam asked.

“Wendigo- it’s a creature that takes people off the mountain and eats ‘em. Anyway, after the ski resort went bankrupt I thought our problems would be over- didn’t think there would be much of an issue but there’s the rogue hiker here and there that goes missing so I kept the cabin and come up when I hear about missing folks.”

“It eats people?” Jack asked, horrified.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but yes. We’ve gotta find your friends before that thing decides it’s dinner time. And looks like we’ve gotta soon before the sun comes up.”

*

Bobby stood alone in the cold darkness of the mine, hearing the panting breathing of the creature a mere few feet in front of him. “What are you?” He asked it, this being the first and only time he had found himself close enough to the monster he could truly see it’s frightening glory. The torch in his hand flickered, but the light steady enough that the creature wouldn’t come any closer. It extended it’s long, gangly arm and pointed towards the flame. Bobby’s eyes followed it’s motion and he fixated on the flame. Within the flame he squinted, seeing a face formed in the fire, the person’s eyes were closed but he knew it was his Joanna. “What did you do to her?” He cried out, stepping forward and lashing at the beast with the fire. It did not fight back, only pointed once again at the flame. He stared into it again and gasped.

_She was running, her breath jagged as if she had been on the move for quite some time. “Jo! Wait!” Ash called out behind her, but tears pricked at her eyes and she wiped them away, pressing on into the wilderness. Before she could think the ground below her cracked and groaned, and she was falling._

__

Waking up, she was groggy, her head hurt and her vision was blurry. Besides her she could make out the unconscious body of her brother. “Ash,” she called out, shaking him. But his body was flimsy, he moved easily as she shook him. “No, no, no,” she turned him on his back and leaned down by his mouth, she couldn’t feel any breath. She began to wildly pump his chest, attempting CPR, but had to stop because she felt the sharp pain of a broken bone in her left arm. Tears streamed down her face as she looked around, but was in near complete darkness and could not see a way out. She stood up but immediately fell back down, unable to stand on her feet. Jo’s hands reached out and felt desperately at her legs, her ankles were both definitely broken. She used her good arm to drag herself around a bit, unable to find a way out and not strong enough to continue searching. Jo curled up next to her brother’s body, placing her head on his cold chest and sobbed until she fell asleep.

__

The second time she woke up in the mine, Jo was slightly more alert, and realized she was in big trouble if she couldn’t get out of there. She mustered up some strength to rip her shirt to try to create a makeshift sling for her arm. Without food or water, she would surely die before she could even make a serious attempt to dig herself out. 

__

_Everything went black and when she awoke again, blood was dripping down her chin, a pungent, metallic taste in her mouth. Jo avoided looking down, sobbing as she wiped blood off her chin with her shirt. She was chewing, the meat not breaking down easily. Jo cried harder as she felt something deep within her beginning to change._

“Jo?” Bobby said, tearing his eyes away from the vision in the flame to look at the creature. “My baby.” The creature stood silently as Bobby processed what he had just seen. “I love you so much, sweetie. Your mom and I love you dearly. You will always be my little girl. I’m going to set you free now.” The monster continued to stand there quietly, but it seemed to bow its head as Bobby called out, “John, now!” 

Bobby hit the floor as John appeared out from behind an old mine cart wielding a flamethrower, directing it at the monster. The mine shaft was lit up in shades of yellow and orange as the creature shrieked wildly as the flames hit it’s dark, decomposing skin. “I’m sorry,” Bobby repeated over and over under his breath as he shielded his eyes from the bright light of the fire. 

When John was apparently satisfied with his work and the creature was nearly a pile of ash, he turned off the flamethrower and Bobby stood up, wobbly on his feet. John rushed over to wrap Bobby’s arm around his shoulder to help keep him steady. 

As Bobby and John headed out of the mine, they knew there was a slim chance that any of the kidnapped teens were still alive, but they still had to check because they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they weren’t positive there weren’t any survivors. They looked around the large cavern and called out, hoping for a response. After a few minutes of calling and checking around the cave they shook their heads and began their trek out of the mine shaft, not finding any survivors. 

Back at the cabin, as the first light of dawn appeared, Jack jumped up and hurried to pull on a jacket. Castiel stood up and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the guest house to see if Anna’s there,” Jack replied eagerly. 

“No way, we’re waiting for my dad and Bobby to get back here before we leave. Who knows if it’ll come back,” Dean said sternly.

“Jack, I’m eager to go look for Anna too,” Castiel said, “but Dean’s right, we need to wait for their help.”

“Oh, shut up!” Jack exclaimed at his cousin, who looked shocked at the younger boy’s outburst. “Do you always do everything he says?”

“Jack-” Castiel narrowed his eyes at his cousin.

“You do everything he says, do you ever think for yourself? It’s always Dean this and Dean says that! When are you going to learn that just because he’s your whole world, it doesn’t mean you’re his!” Jack shouted before grabbing a random knitted hat and storming out the door. 

“Jack! Wait!” Castiel shouted, scrambling to find warm clothing so he could go out after Jack.

Dean, Charlie and Sam fell into an uncomfortable silence after the two left until Charlie said, “Well I’m going to make us breakfast since it’s now after 6. Dean, a hand?”

“How hard is it to make cereal?” Dean asked, earning an eye roll from Sam, who turned his attention to looking out the front window for his father. Dean soon joined Charlie in the kitchen as she was pouring water into the coffee maker. 

“Jack’s right,” she said, slamming the lid down on the coffee maker.

“No he’s not,” Dean scoffed, opening the fridge to find creamer for the coffee but also pulled out a carton of eggs. 

“Um, yeah, he kind of is. You,” she pointed to him, the coffee maker whirring as it heated up, “started dating Lisa as soon as things got,” she waved her hands in the air erratically, “sexual tension-ey or whatever with Cas after he came out to you instead of confronting your feelings like a normal person would-”

“I did not!” Dean defended, abandoning his half-scrambled eggs and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Oh, what happened then, hm?” She tapped her foot impatiently.

Dean sighed, “Charlie, can we not do this now? Our friends are missing-”

“You and Cas need to have a real talk when we get out of here and you really need to tell him how you feel.”

“I’m going to!”

“Good!” She exclaimed before picking up where he left off with the eggs. “Because Jack is right, you’re practically his whole world. If you don’t have a serious talk about your relationship then you need to let him go because it’s fucking hard on him, Dean. You don’t see him when you’re away. All he does is talk about how he wants to make you proud,” she added milk to the eggs before pouring them into the sole frying pan.  
Dean sighed as the coffee maker filled and set out a few mugs. “I will, I promise.”

The group quietly ate breakfast while they waited for John and Bobby to come back, seemingly like forever. The sun was beginning to peak over the mountain, washing the cabin in soft rays as they solemnly washed up the dishes. The sun was nearly fully risen by the time the adults got back to the cabin, Jack rushed to the door to see if his sister was with them, and when he realized it was only the two older men, he pulled on his hat and mittens, his cousin barely scrambling behind him. 

Bobby shook his head sadly at the group as Jack and Castiel sprinted out the door. Sam followed after them, forgetting a hat and gloves, hoping to find Ruby. John sighed and Dean held a cup of coffee out to his father, then passed one to Bobby. The parents sat by the fire to warm up as they sipped their coffee silently. 

When they had nearly finished their hot beverages, Charlie asked, “So how did you know we were here? Did my texts finally go through?” She pulled out her phone, checking but saw that the message had failed to send.

“Your momma and I were havin’ a drink at the Roadhouse when this ‘un here was surprised to see us since he was told there would be parental supervision,” Bobby said gruffly, placing his mug on the coffee table. “You and I need to have a talk,” he said, pointing to Charlie, the blood drained from her face as she held her head down sadly, nodding. 

“And you-” John looked up at Dean, who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “And your brother lied to me.”

“Sorry, sir,” Dean mumbled, knowing if he hadn’t lied they wouldn’t have been able to come up.

“But,” he paused, “I was the only person who knew where you kids are. If it wasn’t for that,” John trailed off, not wanting to think about what would have happened if him and Bobby hadn’t shown up to slay the beast. Dean also remained silent for a long pause until Jack threw open the sliding door, “Help!” he rushed back outside, Dean and John scrambled to their feet, John calling out for Bobby as they hurried out the door without jackets. They followed Jack’s shouting, which was down the trail where Sam and Cas were struggling to hold up a hobbling Benny, one foot in the air as he tried hopping through the snow. When they reached the boys, John tossed Benny over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry back to the house, Bobby and Charlie now standing on the deck. 

“Benny!” Charlie exclaimed, making room for John to barrel past her and set him down on a couch. 

Benny winced as he started untying his boot, “I think it’s broken.”

“Well?” Dean asked Castiel when him, Jack, and Sam made it back to the cabin. Cas just shook his head and pulled Dean in for a tight hug, Dean wrapped his arms around the younger boy and gripped him in the back of the head, whispering comforting words. Castiel pulled away from Dean’s comforting embrace, knowing he had to give the same comfort to his cousin. Charlie was holding Jack as he blankly stared ahead, then Castiel came over and wrapped his arms around both of them.

“Benny needs to get to a hospital,” John said after inspecting his wounded leg, confirming that his leg was definitely broken. 

“We need to call the police to look for Anna and Ruby,” Bobby said, despite knowing that it was probably too late for a positive resolution for the two teens. “You kids get back to your cars and call the police the second you get bars,” he said to no one in particular.

“We’re gonna need a ride,” Charlie said, “the lift’s down.”

“Christ, anything else you forgot to mention?” 

“No,” Charlie said quickly and quietly.

John carried Benny out to the truck, grabbing a toolbox from the back before he returned to the house to take a look at the ski lift while Bobby and Benny drove down the mountain to the nearest county hospital. John and Dean were unsuccessful at fixing the lift, but by the time they made it back to the cabin, the police and park rangers had arrived, the flashing lights on their vehicles lit the snowy wonderland up blue and red. Charlie, Castiel and Sam spoke to the police while Jack sat back quietly, not talking to anyone. Dean overheard an officer say ‘shock’ and ‘post traumatic-something or other’ as he was speaking to Castiel, who was nodding along and looking over at his cousin. 

Rangers had been dispersed into the forest, except for the one talking to John when Cas approached Dean, “They want to take him to the hospital,” he said softly, “have an evaluation,” Dean nodded, not exactly understanding, but knowing enough that Jack had been through something hard, they all had. Dean reached for Castiel’s hand and squeezed it gently, reassuring, only for a moment before Cas bid him farewell and corralled his cousin into the police car, staring out the window at Dean and his other friends as they went down the mountain. 

Sam appeared at Dean’s side, barreling into him and burying his face in his older brother’s chest. Dean just wrapped an arm around his baby brother, squeezing him. He made eye contact with Charlie, whose eyes were red and puffy, she sniffled as she slowly made her way over to Dean, where he wrapped his other arm around her. John appeared and stood by silently, allowing his sons and Charlie to hold each other for a moment before placing a hand on Dean’s shoulder, a warmth radiating from him that Dean had never felt before. “The head ranger will give us a ride to the Impala, let's go home.”

Charlie let go of her friends and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket and followed John to the ranger’s truck as Dean gave his brother one last squeeze before they pulled apart. In the truck on their way down, Dean gazed up in awe at the mountain, now aware of the profound effect it could have on a person. He gulped, closing his eyes, vowing to never step foot on this mountain again.

John drove them home, Sam and Charlie in the backseat, slumped against each other asleep. Dean stared out the window, hyper aware of the sound of helicopters swarming the mountain. He could feel John’s eyes burning holes into the back of his head, but ignored the sensation as he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep like his sibling. Charlie was dropped off at home to Ellen, who cried as she shouted at her when John pulled the Impala away. Sam spent the rest of his vacation curled up in bed after the loss of his girlfriend, only opening up for Mary, who spent hours on end holding him as he cried himself to sleep. Charlie texted Dean later that day when Bobby got back from dropping Benny off at home with news that they hadn’t found Anna or Ruby. He still hadn’t heard from Cas, but obsessively checked his phone, hoping for an update, thinking every little noise was an incoming text. A week later, Dean’s phone was still unbearably dry, Charlie was grounded from using her phone but occasionally called Dean from the landline when her parents were out, just to check on things. She reported they still hadn’t found Anna or Ruby; her and Dean both knew that meant that they never would either, but neither of them said it. He asked about Cas, because he still hadn’t heard from him, but Charlie just reported that him and Jack weren’t at school and when she offered to bring them their work, the guidance counselor reported that wasn’t necessary and wouldn’t provide any further information. 

Nearly a week and a half after Dean had arrived home, he borrowed the Impala to drive over to Castiel’s to check on him, armed with a stack of homemade dishes courtesy of his mother. Cas answered the door in his pajamas despite it being almost 3 in the afternoon. Dean looked him up and down and was so caught off guard by Castiel not being dressed yet that he almost forgot why he was there. “My mom,” he said, handing the stack of containers to Cas, who smiled sweetly.

“That was very kind of her,” he lifted the tin foil on the top dish as Dean said, “Pumpkin pie. And a chicken pot pie, and mac and cheese.”

Castiel smiled and turned around, walking back into his house towards the kitchen when Naiomi called out, “Who was at the door?”

“Hi, Mrs. Novak,” Dean called out, stepping into the foyer.

“Hello, Dean.”

“Dean just came by to drop these off,” Castiel motioned to the stack of dishes he was about to put in the fridge. 

“Please extend my thanks to your mother, dear,” she said to Dean before turning on her heels back into her home office.

“So, uh, how’s… things?” Dean asked, uncomfortably shifting on his feet.

Castiel sighed, “Things could be better.”

“Yeah, ditto.” They remained in a pregnant pause, Castiel leaning against the fridge until Dean said, “Charlie says you guys haven’t been in school.”

“Yes, mother, and the psychiatrist think that is best for a little while,” he nodded.

“Jack?” Dean asked.

“He’s,” Castiel winced slightly, “struggling.” Dean nodded as they fell silent once again.

“I should,” Dean cleared his throat, “I should go,” he turned to begin out the door but Castiel stopped him, grabbing his wrist.

“Dean, there’s some things we need to talk about, but now’s not the time.” Dean nodded slowly, sadly, knowing that there was more they needed to discuss about their relationship or whatever it was that happened between the two.

“Yeah, I know, Cas.”

“I love you,” Castiel blurted out.

“I love you too,” Dean said, letting his hand fall into Castiel’s gently, rubbing his thumb across his palm. “When it’s time- when you’re ready to talk, you know where to find me,” his voice caught in his throat but he forced a small smile to reassure Cas.


End file.
